Here are some great online drawing tools for those who like to draw and work online at the same time. Way back in 2006, online drawing tools were few and far between, especially anything with collaborative functionality for multi-user action. Back then, the choices were basically Groupboard and LiTha-Paint. But the scene is much improved, with some amazing single- and multi-user drawing tools available for getting creative and having fun. Here’s a round-up of our favorites..

Pretty nice and simple online drawing tool. Reminds me a lot of an online version of the original MS Paint program. Not that it sucks, it’s actually pretty great for what it is: a basic yet useful tool for drawing online.

Mudcube’s Sketchpad is an excellent drawing tool that gives users full-control over color, brush-size, and just about everything else. It’s super-well polished and brings tasty treats like Patterns, Swatches, History, and a healthy set of tools. Recommended with our highest rating for online drawing tools.

Even more like Photoshop than Mudcube’s Sketchpad, Queeky delivers a wealth of useful drawing tools, including filters, adjustments, customizable menus, and even layers to make it all good. Queeky is a remarkable drawing tool that’s a pleasure to use for solo-drawing expeditions.

Another incredible Photoshop-esque online-drawing tool, SUMO Paint feels like a slick iPad app with all the trimmings and features you could ever hope for.. one of the best online drawing/painting/creative tools currently available. SUMO Paint is definitely one of our favorites for online creativity. Also available in app flavor :)

Pros: online version of Photoshop, many features, fully customizable UI

Cons: no complaints, but would be better with multi-user functionality

Even more fun than Mr. Doob’s drawing tool, Flame Painter makes it easy (and addictive) to create beautiful light-based imagery using a variety of “fire” effects, colors, and more. It’s super fun to create your own “fire” art, but the canvas-size is too small for serious design work.

Pros: easy to create beautiful imagery

Cons: sort of a one-trick pony, but with plenty of options

Unique Feature: fire-based graphics in the comfort of your browser

The same dude who made Flame Painter also makes Fields, Fluid, and much more. With Fields, you get to set the initial coordinates of the fields, and then watch the script slowly transform this:

..into this (and beyond):

The Fluid painting makes it fun to splash and mix paint around on a swirling liquid canvas:

With the default settings it’s difficult to get any crisp results, but after some experimentation Fluid is like virtual watercolor or something. Wild.

Multi-user drawing tools

Open Studio

Open Studio(404 link removed 2015/04/21)

This is one of my favorites. The results are usually pretty abstract-looking, but you can get some great patterns and visual effects by experimenting with the settings. Don’t let the simplicity fool you — this one is worth checking out.

This drawing tool is pretty basic, just pick a brush size and color and go to town. We had fun with this one, but it’s probably too simple for more than casual sketching.

Pros: full-width drawing area

Cons: only 7 colors (no white!), only one drawing tool, no chat

Unique feature: very dumbed down, but stylish and uncluttered

coSketch.com

coSketch.com provides some great features to go along with its basic selection of drawing tools. While sketching, multiple users can chat, add stamps and backgrounds, and even add and draw on a custom Google Map for any zip code. There’s even a multi-user History feature and image uploader. Update: (2013/01/22) coSketch.com seems to be down so we had to remove the link.</update>

Pros: deluxe features such as chat, maps, import, history, and custom stamps

Last but not least, Groupboard is one of the originals and has been online longer than any others. It’s pretty simple and basic, but that’s also part of the charm.. if you want to know what multi-user online drawing tools were like back in 2002, Groupboard is it.

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